DECORATED HARRAH
Just 154 players remain from 797 starting. Chun Law leads talented field that includes Greg Raymer and others.

Cherokee, N.C. (December 7, 2014) — The World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Harrah’s Cherokee continued Saturday with the second of two starting flights in the $1,675 finale. In total, the series’ championship tournament drew 797 entries — nearly 20 percent more than last year — generating a prize pool of $1,195,500. After 15 levels and two days of play just 154 remain with Chun Law out in front of a decorated field that includes 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer (pictured right) and WSOP APAC Main Event champion Scott Davies, as well as bracelet winners Jared Jaffee, Kyle Cartwright, Jonathan Taylor, Leif Force and others.

Chun holds 291,000 chips — well over the 103,500 average — and leads a three-way race for the chip lead between himself, Andrew Rothfolk (288,000) and Khanh Nguyen (283,500) by a slight margin. Those looking up at the trio at the top include Jaffee (166,000), Cartwright (112,000), Raymer (109,000), Davies (100,500), Ryan Van Sanford (97,900), Taylor (71,000), Jacob Bazeley (67,000) and Force (69,000).

Complete Day 2 chip counts are available on WSOP.com.

On the line heading to Sunday’s Day 2 will be a $239,096 first prize. Each of the top three finishers are set to head home with a six figure score, but the tournament’s eventual champion pockets the lion’s share of the prize pool along with a Circuit gold ring a berth in the National Championship.

A complete look at the payout structure is available on WSOP.com.

Action kicked off with the opening flight of the Cherokee finale Friday afternoon. The 319 entries from that flight paired with the 478 from Saturday’s to surge the field well past last year’s mark of 665 entries. Friday advanced 61 while Saturday saw 93 bag and tag to bring the Day 2 field to 154.

Those not fortunate enough to earn a Day 2 berth include three-time Super Bowl champion Richard Seymour, 2009 $50,000 HORSE World Championship bracelet winner David Bach, defending champion Jason Sandling, Allen Kessler, Tripp Kirk, Aaron Massey, Nicolas Vaca-Rondon, Juan Mendoza, Russ Head and Aaron Frei.

Benjamin Keeline (243,000), Viet Vo (147,000), Austin Buchanan (79,500), Ralph Massey (86,500) and David Nicholson (36,500) were among the players who busted Flight A and exercised their option to re-enter in today’s Flight B. All three improved on their previous performance and bagged chips as we look ahead to Day 2.

Action resumes for Day 2 Sunday at 12 p.m. ET with blinds of 1,500/3,000 and a 500 ante and just the top 81 spots finishing in the money. Players are set to log 10, 60-minute levels before bagging shortly before midnight local time.

Here’s a look at the top 10 Day 2 chip counts:

1. Chun Law - 291,000
2. Andrew Rothfolk - 288,000
3. Khanh Nguyen - 283,500
4. Chad DeBerry - 274,000
5. Nathan Gentry - 263,500
6. Darryll Fish - 246,000
7. Ben Keeline - 243,000
8. Sanjay Gehi - 243,000
9. Fikret Kovac - 236,500
10. George Brewton - 235,500

Complete chip counts and chip counts arranged by table/seat are available on WSOP.com.